This picture, proudly displayed on the PCB webpage and in many Pakistani newspapers, is from the President of Pakistan’s reception for the cricket team shows Mr President 
handing a check of Rs 5 million (50 lakhs) to Mohammad Yousuf, the stylish batsman who recently broke the world record for runs and centuries scored in a year.
While every Pakistani is proud of Yousuf’s achievements and his incredible form over the past year, does it behoove the President of the Republic to award him with a substantial amount of money from public funds when the PCB has already announced an award of Rs 1 million through their official sponsor?
This award is over and above the Rs 1 million that the Prime Minister awarded, and another benovolent Governor of Sindh awarding him Rs 0.5 million. Hence, by the last count, Mohammad Yousuf has been awarded Rs 6.5 million from public funds and Rs 1 million from the PCB (another public institution).
While no one should begrudge what Mr Yousuf receives from private parties for his magnificent achievements, is it the official business of governmental figures to reward cricketers or any other sportsperson with such substantial funds from the public exchequer? Is this some kind of auction or race to achieve superiority over who gives more for this cause? First it was the PCB, then the Governor of Sindh, then the Prime Minister, and now the President. The irony is that Musharraf, in full military attire, is awarding a cricketer the equivalent of 120 years of the average annual income in Pakistan!
Wouldn’t an offical civilian award or the Pride of Performance along with a token monetary award been more appropriate?
This may be in line with the ill-advised image-building program of both the Prime Minister and the President or it may have something to do with Yousuf’s recent conversion, but to me it is akin to some gross colonial practice of rewarding the locals who help the master’s image rather than using their official power and office to help the desperately poor and the ones in dire need. Such practice has been a favorite of our rulers; including, for example, the money that poured to Javed Miandad after his famous ‘Sharjah sixer.’
Is it just me or does no one else see the inappropriateness of the President’s actions?
I agree with Turab. We seem to be very critical of everything. If Muhammad Yousuf had not recieved any rewards from the government and other bodies, someone here would have come out with a hot and long winded post about how the goverment does not support its national heros. It doesn’t matter what the government does, there will always be some angle from which to be critical.
Also, this money was not snatched from the mouths of hungry orphans. The PCB makes millions of dollars from the team from advertising revenue. It’s not, as you repeatedly call it, “public funds”.
Well, money from governmental funds is another matter, but I do not think that this suits the image of the “President and the Prime-Minister of an Islamic Republic” (well, atleast a formal if not a practical title!)
People MUST seperate a mere game from important national matters!!
^^ I hope that website is supposed to non serious as it wrongly reports that yousuf has been dropped from the team for ODI…..
http://www.boriat.com/story.php?src=./sections/new s/20061204-01.xml
From Boriat . *Smile*
There is a picture in dawn today where they show that the cricketers visited a local hospital in lahore i believe and were distributing the reward money to the deserving families.
I think as Pakistani we are a very judgemental nation who takes strives to criticize in all aspects… sheesh
How is it double hypocricy if the wisdom of both actions (public plots to secreatry and public money to cricketers) are being questioned here as being wrong?
When Shokat aziz can reward plots to Parliment members[I think it was covered here as well] by ignoring millions of poor Pakistanis then what’s wrong if a rich cricketer is being given millions of ruppees? I smell hypocrisy here. WHy? *you* know better.
God Bless You, for saying that, Zamanov!
If I had to give that money, I would give it to the poor cricketers that aren’t able to make the big bucks from other sources due to being injured or something. Like our soccer players, and so on…if we put that kind of incentive into a sport like that, the “glory” it would bring the nation would outshine anything Cricket or Hockey could do. But alas, soccer is the poor man’s game in Pakistan…
… though if a Pakistani team makes it into any international level of competition by mistake, just watch how bat-crazy the country will go. Just witness the World Cup Soccer posts on this site when we weren’t even competing.
But I digress.